So The Fall
by yvj
Summary: Retelling of an old famous story with a little twist. AU COMPLETE
1. In the begining

A/N So what is this story? Well its inspired by a Mark Twain Story called the Diary of Adam and Eve. So that was the inspiration. Like those stories I'm going to go through a certain familiar tale and a little beyond it as well. I.E after the fall. So that's what you're in for.

If you're religious. Just relax this is just a story I'm not trying to push some agenda down your throat. If you're anti religious just relax this only a story I'm not trying to push an agenda down your throat

You may notice the shorter chapter length, its me trying something. Oh and I'll finish Scrooge eventually XD

So here's the story. With my SINCEREST APOLOGIES to Mark Twain for this adaptation which would probably suck in his eyes. (Oh if anyone can think of a better title let me know XD)

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**Sunday**

He was lying in the shadow of a tree, as nude as the day he was created; amongst a row of tall grass. He lifted his head slightly when a lion pushed through the grass and entered his field of vision. It carried a banana between its jaws that it dropped at his feet. He nodded to it in acknowledgment. Its job apparently done, the lion turned and darted back through the grass.

He grinned as he snatched the fruit off the ground, peeled back its skin and began munching on it.

"That's the problem with delivery, it never tastes as good handpicked," he sighed.

While he stuffed his mouth he noticed a small pink creature scrambling out of the grass towards him.

"Hey little guy."

The creature squeaked.

He smiled. "Eh, its paradise, I got no complaints. Though I think I'm losing weight. Like right around this area." He poked at the section of his body right above his abdomen region. "Something just feels less."

The pink creature squeaked again.

"Y'know a dip in the Spring of Heat and Gentle Stroking Waves sounds good. But there's one problem." He collected the small mammal in his hands and stood up. He pointed off in the distance and immediately a flash of red appeared. The animal squinted and rubbed its eyelids. It grunted in surprise.

He scratched the top of his head in confusion. "I don't know, but it's been following me for hours. I wish it would hang around some of the other animals."

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She scanned the field. Disappointment quickly settled in as she realized she had lost the "other" even though she had been careful to follow it at some distance for most of the afternoon. She wanted to study on what it was, and what it was for. Even now she couldn't come to any satisfying conclusion, but what she did discover was that tracking it seemingly made it nervous and unhappy. Still she felt more curious about it than any of the other animals she had run across. She resolved herself that the next time she saw it she would approach it. But until then she might as well work on something else.

Looking around her immediate surroundings her eyes fell on a small stone on the ground. For now she would work on learning distance. Last night she had discovered stars and found them to beautiful. It had occurred to her if she could knock a few down from the air, she wouldn't mind placing a few in her hair. Though she had tossed stones up at the sky for most of the evening, she couldn't manage to hit one.

Scooping the stone she decided then it was also time to judge her arm strength. Rearing back she tossed the stone as far as she could. Shielding her eyes from the sun she watched the arc of the rock as it came down in the tall grass.

"Ow! What in the voice's name was that?"

Before she knew it she was rushing towards the source of the sound. She felt a thrill go through her. Not only had she found it again but it had used language.

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"What is this?" He asked as he ran a hand across his forehead. "It's a very uncomfortable feeling."

He looked up just in time to see her come running up to him. She came to a halt a few feet away from him. Her eyes shined at the sight of him.

He held up the stone. "Hey you dropped this. On my head!"

"Are you a reptile?" She began to circle around him. "No I've never seen a reptile with hair. Blond hair, brown eyes, you have no hips…"

"And no…." with that she looked down at her chest. "Well they're not as out there."

His eyes fell below her waist. "Yeah, well from where I'm standing your short on some stuff. Did you toss them in the air too?"

"No a reptile doesn't fit....maybe a monkey."

"I have no idea what you're talking about" he said.

"But if you're a monkey where is your tail? Oh wait....why is it on the wrong side?"

"Are you planning on staying long...?"

"I think you're a man," she interjected. "I've never seen a man, but you look like one, and I feel for sure that is what you are."

He ran his fingers through his hair confusion. "Uh sure…So…uh...long hair….this is the first time I've seen you in the Garden."

"I am almost a day old now. I arrived yesterday. And that is the truth because I don't remember anything before yesterday." She placed her hand on her chin. "Then again that doesn't mean nothing happened before yesterday. I might just not have noticed. Well from now I guess I'll pay more attention to what is happening around me…...."

By then he had already lost interest. The Spring of Heat and Gentle Stroking Waves were calling him.

"This is the first time I've heard anyone else's voice but my own," she exclaimed.

It was the same for him but he couldn't bring himself up to the same level of excitement she was at. "Yes it's kinda different."

"So what do we do around here?" She said as she looked around.

"We? What is we?"

"It's a word I just thought of while we were talking. It means us."

"Us?"

She pointed to him and then back to herself. "You and me of course."

He shook his head. "We don't do anything. For six days I eat and sleep and on the seventh day I rest. That's how it is. That's all there is."

"Oh," she said simply.

He had turned to leave but he stopped short. "Oh, and here's something else we don't do. We don't eat from the Tree."

"The Tree?"

"You'll know the Tree when you see it. You can't miss it, just don't eat from it. It's the only rule around here. It's the only rule delivered by the voice."

"The voice. I think I do remember a voice."

"See all this?" He waved his arm about. "Everything is because of the voice. So if the voice says don't partake of the Tree, you don't partake from the Tree. Eat from any tree in the Garden except that one."

"That's fair. So what do we do now?"

_We again? _He thought.

"Well, long hair, I was thinking about going over to the springs."

"Springs? It sounds interesting lead the way."

He pondered on this for a second. The new creature was insistent but maybe in some way, like all the other animals she would in some way make his life in the garden more blissful. If that was even at all possible. He had once been sure he had maximized his potential blissfulness already; maybe something new can come from this.

"Follow me," he said.

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**Tuesday:**

She pointed to the large creature, "and that's a rhinoceros." Then she pointed up at the sky, "and those are sparrows."

Down at the ground, "well I do declare, there goes a snail."

Sighing with exasperation he watched on as the other pointed and named. It took the time to name everything they happened to come along. Before he could even protest the naming of one thing she would already be moving on to naming something else. And they would keep those names no doubt; the animals would just accept it. Who would, could they complain too if they didn't like their names?"

"Where are you getting all these names from?" He asked.

She smiled brightly. "Well the minute I set eyes on an animal I know what it is. As if it were from inspiration I seem to know just by the shape of the creature and the way it acts what animal it is."

"Hey how about if I name something?" He stated.

"Go right ahead." The other said.

They waited for the next animal to arrive. A few minutes later a creature about the size of a cat crawled down the road. The creature has a thick covering of hair all over its body except for the feet and bill, a flat tail dragged along behind it.

"Uhhhhhh." He hemmed and hawed for a long period of time before eventually blurting out, "thing!"

"We'll call it, thing!"

The other glanced at him and then back at the animal and then at him again. "Wouldn't you think it would prefer being called platypus?" she asked politely.

"Platypus?!" He exclaimed. "Why, Platypus?"

"Well, it looks like a Platypus," she reasoned.

He sighed again as it continued to name everything. He took to watching the Platypus crawl out of sight. It was probably ashamed of its new name he thought. It would most likely go home to cry over the loss of a name like "thing." He exchanged a weary glance with his small hairless friend.

Platypus?

It didn't look any more like a platypus than he did.

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**Wednesday:**

It had been happening more and more frequently. In between naps he would notice that some of the animals of the same type had gathered together. The wolves for example had packs. He had attempted to join a wolf pack once. It was not a successful endeavor.

Their lack of appreciation for an afternoon nap aside; the rigorous demands of the lead wolf were not to his liking. Why the wolves needed a leader to help them eat grass was still beyond his comprehension. Then he made the faux pas of eating before the others in the pack, or more specifically before the head wolf. This immediately decreased his regard with the wolves. Though it wasn't explicitly stated, as the days went on he began to feel that the wolves no longer wanted him around. This was confirmed for him when he awoke one morning to find that they had moved to the other side of the Garden without notifying him.

Though he enjoyed his brief stint as a pack wolf, throughout it all, he still felt what he believed to be some sort of instinctual separation with the animals. At times he would marvel at the natural beauty of the Garden and he would wonder if the animals truly saw. Did they see the shimmering rainbows? Did they notice the smell of the earth after water fell from the sky? Could they appreciate the delight and splendor of resting under the shade of a tree after dining on a hive full of honey? He wasn't sure if they could or did. At least he couldn't tell if they did.

He would of course eventually come to form a mini pack with his little hairless friend. It, unlike the other animals had learned like he did to take and advantage of some of the Garden's special features. Such as the days when instead of water sweet milk fell from the sky, or the Stream of Bliss where the wiggling fish, yes fish was what the other had named them, in the water would massage's one's body as they swam by. Still even with this new found friendship, he did feel a bit of distance between him and the little one every now and then. So it had come to pass he would occasionally look upon the Garden and see that it was special, in effect he would feel himself even more special. It was a conceited notion that seemed to handicap his relationships with the other animals. When the unwanted feeling presented itself he would sleep until it had passed.

He wondered briefly if the other had felt the same yet. This thought was brief because he knew that he would soon find out if the other did whether he wanted to know or not. For the new one was always talking. She would talk about her feelings or whatever other thoughts that came to mind. And she encouraged him to do same but would seem disappointed when he gave a simple answer. This amazed him, for how complex could one be in Paradise? Yet no matter what he said, no matter how disinterested he was in the topic or when he erred; which seemed to be frequently the case around her. He hardly remembered ever "erring" before she arrived. Still she would insist on conversing.

"I've been thinking I might be an experiment. Have you ever felt that you were an experiment?" She asked.

"I can't say that I have." Having no earthly clue what an experiment was he was in no position to answer this question. Obviously it was something she just invented so he was amazed that she would even ask

Knowing whether he was ignorant of the word or not, she took it in stride.

"I feel like an experiment, I feel convinced that that is what I am. And I guess you are two, we are two parts of an experiment. What do you think?"

"Um," a bird skirted out of a bush past them. "Hey look there goes a wildcat!"

"Actually I think that's a dodo bird."

"I never would have guessed," he mused.

"I've decided that my name is Kimberly. You can call me that when you want me to come over. I think it's a very nice name don't you? "

'I couldn't think of one better," he declared with a smile. This happened to be the truth.

This seemed to please her, and in turn, this pleased him that he managed to say the right thing for once. It occurred to him now that this creature was fond of compliments.

"You should pick a suitable name for yourself as well. Then we can we have a proper introduction."

He groaned inwardly, it would insist now on him having a name. And he was certain if he didn't pick one for his own she'd choose one for him.

This was surely something that would cut into his resting time.

"Oh and for future reference, I've thought about it, I've also decided that I am a she not an 'it.' And for sure that would make you a 'he', they sound much nicer don't you think?" With that she said she walked cheerfully past him.

It used to be so quiet around here he thought.

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A/N Read and review tell me what you think. I think this is fairly orginal. Next chapter is in a few days.


	2. There was man and woman

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A/N Chapter two. Sine there are no suggestions for a title "So the Fall" it is. Thanks for the review guys I didn't anticipate this much feedback for this little story. I appreciate it.

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**Thursday:**

After spending the morning in the Cave of Plentiful rest, He stretched out and laid himself in the branches of a peach tree. He felt a tweak of hunger so he instinctively lifted his fingers into the air. An eagle dived from the clouds and snatched a fruit from the tree. It glided down and delivered the peach to his open palm. While he peeled the skin from the fruit Kimberly approached the tree.

"Hey," she said.

He glanced down and tossed her half of the fruit. "Something wrong Long Hair?"

"Kimberly" she told him.

"Huh?"

"My name?"

"Oh yeah, Kimberly, right. So what's wrong?"

"I saw the tree."

He lifted his hand and another peach was quickly delivered to him.

"What about the tree?"

She popped some of the fruit in her mouth. "It's glowing…..and every road in the garden seems to lead to it. Are you sure we're supposed to stay away from it."

He sat up. "I know this is Paradise but we have structure, we have rules!"

"We do?" Her eyebrow arched up into her foreword. He found the gesture disarming.

"We have **one** rule," he said quickly. "It's the basic foundation of our existence….stay away from the tree. The fruit of that tree brings with it a terrible curse."

"What?"

For some reason he felt the urge to lower his voice and wiggle his fingers. "The curse of Chhhhhhange…."

"Change?"

"Wait, no that wasn't it, it was something much more drastic."

He pondered.

"Oh right death; that's it death….we should fear death. From what I hear it's very unpleasant"

He lay back against the branches.

"What is fear?"

He threw his hands up in the air. "I don't know! It's obviously something we don't need or want. The voice says don't eat from the tree, I'm not eating from the tree……capiche?"

"What?" she asked.

"Huh?" he replied.

"What was that word?"

"What word?"

"Fine," she sighed. "So anyway, I was watching the stars before going to sleep last night when suddenly the moon falls out of the sky."

"The moon?"

"Y'know the big round white thing in the sky at night?"

She pointed towards the horizon. "I think it fell behind those mountains. If we go looking for it now, we might be able to get it back before dark."

He chuckled softly. "Don't worry about that. The moon falls all the time. Someone always picks it up and puts it back in place before it's missed."

"Really? Well if we have such good neighbors we should go and thank them."

"You sure love that word, 'we.' I'm going to pass Long Ha……Kimberly. It's time for my nap."

"Fine, what about later?"

"Actually I'm thinking about going to bed early."

"OK, then I'll go find something else to do," she said reluctantly.

"You do that," he said just before his eyes came to a close.

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**Saturday:**

Kimberly called and he came running. He stopped and gazed at her new discovery.

Finding herself bored she has decided to take up experimenting with various objects in the Garden. While testing the strength of a few sticks, she bore through a dry one with another and got a fright. A bluish film rose from the dry sticks. Immediately she knew she brought something new into the world and without hesitation she named this new thing fire. She threw more sticks at it and thus came flames, followed by a dark cloud she would come to call smoke. Proud of her achievement she quickly called out for the other one.

He studied her invention, "um?"

"It's called fire."

"How...?"

"I made it."

"What's it good for?"

Kimberly was stymied. What was it for? It couldn't build shelters or collect food, or even be petted. She gazed down at her invention with him.

"Well it's pretty! That's enough" she declared.

He took an additional look at the fire and then he ran his hand through his hair. "Huh, so I'm going to go find some honey to eat and then I'm going to take a nap."

He then went away.

She sighed. Nothing interested him. Of course she didn't have any uses for fire now but maybe someday.

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**Later that evening**

He was resting his feet beside a stream when she rode up beside him seated on the back of a Bengal Tiger.

"Hey I found another creature that can speak" she told him.

"Really?"

"Yeah it's a bird; I like to call it a parrot."

"Sure why not. So what did it say?"

"Well it blurted out a sting of strange words which instinct is telling me were not really nice. Then it demanded a cracker…..It's uh range of subjects is pretty limited."

"That's good, then it'll get to the point quicker" he replied.

"And it repeats itself….constantly. I try to change the subject but it just goes on about the cracker. I don't want to judge it unjustly but, it's not one for elegant conversation."

"I don't know. It's got me wondering about this cracker. I mean why does it want it so much?" He paused and glanced down at Kimberly's means of transportation. "Ok so what is with the tiger?"

"I'm exploring more of the Garden, riding this is faster than walking. You want to come along?" She held out a hand to him.

He thought about it for a moment. "Sure, I've been meaning to explore the rest of this place one of these days. And maybe you can drop me off at the Valley of Quiet Relaxation afterward."

He grabbed her hand and she helped him up on the tiger right behind her. Kimberly then gigged the Tiger forward.

"Have you ever wondered why Tigers have sharp teeth when they eat mostly turnips?" She asked while the Tiger galloped forward.

"I like to keep myself to one wonder a day" he said. "You should try it."

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**Sunday:**

"Do I believe what I'm seeing?" He told his animal friend as he stared at the scribbling on the tree bark.

**Garden of Eden**

**........This Way to the Hot Whirlpool**

**This way to Valley of Sweet Manna...........**

He shook his head. "I don't know what's crazier, the fact that she wrote this, or the fact that I can read it."

"There you are!"

He turned to see her running toward him.

"I've been looking everywhere for you." She latched onto his arm.

"Wait a second, what's this all about?" He point to the tree.

"It's a sign."

"I know that……..now. What's it for?"

She glanced over her shoulders at the bark. "So no one gets lost."

"Who? The animals?"

"I'll be happy to discuss that with you in time." Holding tightly to his arm she began to drag him off. "I've made a discovery."

"Where are we going?"

"To the waterfall."

"Waterfall...oh you mean 'Really high place where water slides off rocks back into more water'."

She stopped and looked him over curiously. "No, I mean the waterfall."

"Fine, waterfall." He allowed her to drag him deeper into the Garden.

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The roar of the waterfall thundered in his ear. The stones beneath the waves were cold and uneven beneath his feet. The water up to his waist he stopped and starred at the waterfall's edge. He had seen the waterfall at a distance earlier. The water would tumble straight down from a tall cliff. It would fall a long distance over solid rocks. Finally it would come crashing down into the massive lake below.

Considering the height of the waterfall revealed to him a new reaction. It caused him to shiver, tremble and shudder consecutively.

"What is this?" he blurted.

"It's fear," she told. "It's strange but it's wonderful and it's new."

She began to swim towards the edge.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going over!" she shouted.

"Why?"

"Because...."

"That's not a significant justification!"

She stopped swimming and stared directly at him.

And first he was relieved in thinking that perhaps she had changed her mind.

"Justification what's that mean?"

He glanced over his shoulders searching for someone who could help. "Cause….or um, reason—ings for some stuff possibly….I don't know."

"It's a very good word, it sounds pretty."

He blinked rapidly. "Well, y'know, it does kind of roll out of the mouth."

"Justification," he said proudly.

"I like the sound of it. It's very good" With that said she started a backstroke and went willingly right over the edge.

His reaction was to immediately crunch up into a little ball beneath the surface. Opening his eyes under water he saw his little friend swimming by him. Its tiny paws slapped at the current. It nodded to him before propelling itself towards the edge as well.

He was now alone.

The fear battered at him, but he still found himself inching closer to the edge. Eventually when he tired of every individual thrust forward taking minutes of his life, he torpedoed himself over the edge and went screaming loudly over the falls at the top of his lungs.

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Down in the lake he broke the surface with his eyes closed. He didn't open them until he heard the gleeful shout.

"We did it!"

He opened his eyes and found Kimberly and his small friend on the shore. She clapped her hands, laughed and danced in her rapture. He waded back toward the shore and lay to rest immediately on dry land.

"Fear is…..it's pretty unpleasant" he told her.

"Yes, but it's not all powerful. It can be conquered."

"It felt plenty enough powerful to me," he replied.

"Well you didn't have to go over. Fear is very strong, I would have understood if you didn't."

He looked up, fine shafts of sunrays wafted down through the leaves of the trees. He looked towards the water. The waterfall sent fine sprays up, creating ever-shifting rainbows. Then he looked back at her.

Breathing in deeply he said, "Fear aside, I figured it would have been rude if I didn't."

For some reason unknown to him she smiled.

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A/N Thanks for reading (and reviewing wink wink) More chapters coming soon.


	3. A bond was formed

A/N One more chapter for you guys. Thanks for everyone who has read. Didn't expect this story to be any kind of a success.

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**Two weeks later:**

Kimberly hadn't seen him for three days. She couldn't help but feel now that he was avoiding her. This seemed strange; up until then it has been evident to her that he admired her. This notion she had always found to be quite agreeable. She could have sworn that they had been getting more acquainted as the days passed. Surely to even the animals it must have seemed they were getting along.

She wondered how he could treat her this way after she had even taking the burden of naming everything off his hand. He couldn't name anything to save his life. He still hadn't named himself. One could say she was saving him from embarrassment. He had once suggested that they call what was obviously an owl a "crawdad." But she saved him, and in a polite way which didn't bring to light his obvious defect in this one particular area.

Feeling her body growing tense Kimberly entered a lion's den and nestled among the creatures there. She enjoyed sleeping near lions. They were soft and warm and their breaths smelled sweet because they fed off strawberries and melons all day. Lying along the body of a lioness, her thoughts returned back to the man. It certainly did have low tastes she thought. It didn't care for the wreaths of flowers she had collected. At times he even forgot her name, and multiple times he failed to use the term "we."

She sighed.

But he was not without his charms she admitted to herself. There was an endearing quality to him, especially when a confused look came to his face after came up with a new word. And though he missed plenty of obvious opportunities to offer her a compliment, he often surprised her with them when she did not expect it.

Kim crawled along the lion's den searching for a comfortable spot to sleep.

Perhaps she talked too much? Indeed she loved to talk. She found herself to be very interesting when she talked, so wouldn't she be twice as interesting if she had another to talk to? He talked as well, but not as frequently as she did. Kimberly assumed that it was because he was shy and not that bright. That wasn't a slight on the man it was just as she saw it, and it was not particularly an important matter to her.

During a time when they were picking grapes from a vine the man suddenly blurted, "I do not believe the mongooses and snakes are fond of each other." It was a remarkably odd and random observation. At no point in time had they ever discussed snakes nor mongooses at any length. And the conversation they had minutes before was of Kimberly remarking how fine it would be to have gorgeous feathers like the peacock. There was no reason to believe that all the animals were anything but the best of friends. For all her days in the Garden she had always observed at least one or two different species of animals frolicking about in playful harmony. Kimberly had put his observation out of her mind until she herself one afternoon realized that there was a tentative peace at best between cats and dogs. From then it seemed that if careful attention was paid, nuggets of interest could be discovered from the man's unusual assessments of the world.

Much to the annoyance of the lions Kimberly tossed and turned in every corner of the den. Eventually she would pick herself up and exit. She had apparently discovered her first sorrow in loneliness. And believing she may have imposed herself too greatly upon the man, she soon discovered guilt.

Quickly it became entirely obvious to her that lonesomeness was harder to overcome than fear. Not willing to bear it another night, she began her search.

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**One week later:**

He didn't pick up on the fact that he had been running away until he was two days away from the part of the Garden he had called home. With two days behind him he figured he might as well keep moving. Too much had happened too quickly he reasoned. Feelings, discoveries, conversations, he couldn't blink without something new coming at him.

He couldn't honestly say that his life had gotten tremendously less happy with the arrival of the woman, but it had changed and that in itself was a perfectly reasonable excuse to panic. A change of scenery and a return to normalcy was what was needed. Going back to how things were before the woman had arrived. The first six days alone had been fine. But by Saturday evening he had grown tired of his naps, which was a sure sign of something being amiss. By Tuesday sleeping and eating had lost a bit of their appeal, at least in the consecutive sessions he had once enjoyed.

At one point he found himself staring at a cave wall hoping something would come by and lighten his mood. One evening two bumble bees entered the cave. They managed to capture his attention for about a half hour. When they had departed a Chameleon scampered in. However he found its camouflage trick to be tedious and contrived, so he promptly left the cave to seek the consul of his little friend whom had traveled along with him.

They met at a peak overlooking a valley. There they put their heads together to give the matter some thought. It was clear to them both that he was still troubled. His return to normalcy didn't have the desired effect that he was seeking. After a lengthy monologue on his part they concluded he had made a mistake. Indeed the woman had been a good deal of a companion. The life before her arrival now seemed incomplete.

Kimberly was born adventurous. Though it was clear that this attitude would likely lead to him being in awkward if not frightening positions; such as the waterfall incident; he did not believe such an attitude was a bad thing at all. He would concede that such a spirit at times drew him to her, and if he were to be honest he would admit feeling the influence of it.

There were other appealing qualities about Kimberly. The same evening of the waterfall incident she had gone on to experiment with how long she could last underwater. When she surfaced, she announced that after a long while staying underwater became highly uncomfortable. Of course this led her to conclude that the creatures she called fish needed help. He then remarked on why a creature that would not come when called needed to be named, but at that moment Kimberly was focused on saving the fish. They spent the next few hours attempting to catch fish and place them out on land. Had he not pointed out that the fish didn't seem any happier on land then they did in the water they might have dragged every creature out of the water. Eventually she agreed with his assessment and they tossed what they had caught back into the water.

He smiled to himself when he gave it more thought.

The woman had actually wanted to save the animals _in paradise_. He did not doubt that she would have grabbed up all the fish if they were indeed in pain under water. For reasons he could not explain he believed that this was an admirable trait if not a rare one. For one thing he had yet to see such initiative in any of the other animals.

There were animals he was indifferent to, but it was not so with her. She went out of her way to show respect to all the animals, welcoming those she was obviously uncomfortable with. And in hindsight she welcomed him as well. He had been welcomed from the very beginning.

He groaned. A new feeling washed over his body when he recalled waking up to find that the wolves had deserted him. Now he had done the same to Kimberly. This settled it for him, compared to the alternatives, normalcy was a failure. It was time to return home. He stood up and was about to begin he first steps of his trek back when a wolf walked out of the forest with Kimberly in tow.

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"Kim?!"

She stopped in her tracks. It was obviously a shortened version of her name yet it was very pleasant to the ears.

"Yeah…uh…hey," she replied.

He stood up but he remained silent. They eyed each other carefully.

"I should not have---" was said in unison.

"I feel that---" speaking at the same time, again.

This was getting scary. For him at least.

Pause

"You feel something?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah" he sighed. "I wish…….there was a way for me to…… express that" he told her.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly.

"What?"

"You can say 'I'm sorry.' It's a way to express that feeling which is something I call guilt."

His face scrunched up in confusion. "Um?"

"I've had some time to think about all these things while looking for you," she said sheepishly.

"It seems about right…..Well I'm….. sorry…is it sorry?"

She nodded. "Yeah you got it right."

"Good, well I'm sorry that I left without saying anything to you. That was wrong of me."

"I'm sorry for……..imposing myself on you."

He shook his head, "no, no you haven't."

"Yes I have."

"No,"

"Yes." she insisted.

"OK yes you have," he said quickly. "Sometimes…..but most of the time…I don't mind it at all."

"Forgive me?" She asked.

"Um, if that means what I think it means, then of course….forgive me?"

"Absolutely!"

He let out a sigh of relief. "Good, so how did you find me?"

Kimberly went on to explain how she had hunted him down with a wolf she had tamed. This of course seemed to impress him and in turn this made her happy. Following this he excitedly expressed his belief that "she can do anything." Her excitement matched his but her happiness seemed to double. The mood significantly lightened the reunited man and woman sat down to watch the stars.

"My name is Ronald," he blurted out during a quiet reflective pause.

"Hmm?"

"Ronald…" he said hesitantly. "I think…I feel like Ronald."

"Oh, I would have said Ignatius."

He blinked back in response.

"But I mean Ronald is good," Kimberly said hurriedly. "It's just as good; no it's much better than Ignatius. It rolls right off the tongue….Ronald"

"….Ron," she pronounced softly.

Ron grinned as wind blew across his face; the breeze was as warm as the night itself. The stars twinkled from above stretching from horizon to horizon.

"I'm not sure, but I think you come from a body part of mine."

The suddenness of the comment had taken her by surprise.

He pointed at his ribcage, "right here." He looked from his body to her, "it's just a theory."

A smirk came to Kimberly's face. "You're weird Ron, but I like you."

"Weird?"

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**Two months later:**

Life as it were went on in the Garden. Ron found himself napping less but interacting more with animals, studying plants, diving off cliffs, and exploring the depths of caves more. Though the latter two activities continued to be frightening in many, many ways; he had accepted this new lifestyle. After all he was still living in Paradise.

He noticed however that Kimberly had been in a bit of a funk recently. At one point he had watched her spend an entire afternoon attempting to define "meaning", something that didn't seem all that difficult to him since she had invented the word that very morning. Still her funk had been infectious; she had a habit of asking questions in the morning that would haunt him at night. "What are we really here for?" she'd absentmindedly say at around dawn and the second he put his head down to sleep that night, his mind would be racing. After a night of restless sleep he decided a gift was in order to put her mind at ease. Or at the very least something to keep her mind preoccupied, and thus he would have peace. Finding this gift however was much harder than he anticipated. His little friend, whom he had finally named Rufus a week earlier, agreed and they diligently searched the Garden for a suitable gift.

"Rufus this is a problem. I mean what do you get a girl…" he spread his arms out wide and spun in place "…who has EVERYTHING!"

"Ouch!"

He heard a voice. And to his surprise it wasn't Kim's. He looked down and noticed he had planted his foot upon a snakes' tail.

"Oh, hey sorry about that" he said.

The snake reared up with its head bobbing up and down. "Ah don't worry about it I was just taking a nap. Y'know it may sssound weird but when a cool breeze blows and the grasssss beginsss to ssssway…."

"My head comes down to lay!" Ron interrupted. "Yes! I know exactly what you're talking about. I'm Ron."

"Hey, I'm The Ssssnake."

Ron paused. "Wait there's something weird about this. Oh yeah, you can talk?!!"

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A/N Thanks for reading folks. Next chapter should be up soon in the meantime tell me what you think


	4. It was tested

A/N yvj update since some of you have asked. I usually update whatever story the uh muse drags me too. Well the muse has been tip toeing around A.L.L lately. But in the meantime it's still with this story fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it. XD

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Ron knew the animals of the garden talked, to each other, in their own foreign language. He couldn't really make out a word they said but he and Kim usually had an instinctive inkling to what was being grunted or roared to them. In contrast the animals themselves seemed to understand perfectly what they said.

"Yep." The snake sighed. Its voice was smooth and casual. "It's not that big of a deal. I mean you sssspeak. "

Ron nodded, "I do, I do speak."

"Sssay, you wouldn't happen to know where I could find something pleasssant to eat?"

"Snake my friend; you don't know how lucky you are you ran into Ron. I know everything about everything round here. Especially about food and drink, what are you in the mood for ambrosia? Manna?"

"Actually I'm in the mood for ssssomething ssssweet and crunchy. Y'know like applesssss."

Rufus suddenly began to tug at Ron's toes.

"Uh oh scramble," Ron blurted out.

He, the snake, and Rufus darted behind a tree as Kim suddenly passed by.

"If she sees us, she's going ask what I'm doing."

"Sssso?" The snake said.

"Well then I'd have to tell her. Then she'd know about the gift, I want it to be a surprise."

The snake smiled. It was a facial expression that seemed very odd on a snake.

"Oh right, you don't know how to lie" it said.

"What's that?"

"Nothing, more importantly who issss that?"

"Oh, that's Kim. Kimberly."

The snake peeked from behind the tree at Kim.** "**Weird name, I'm more of a traditionalissst you know, Kemeul, Jehoel, Sssseraphiel."

"Huh, well that's Kim. She frequently performs experiments around this place. And I help. Almost as frequently."

"Ssssso you know her?"

"Yeah, we're tight."

"In the biblical sssssensssse."

"Huh?"

"Mate, y'know like the other animalsssss? You do notice that ssssome of the animalssss pair up and mate right?"

"Kim and me? No, no, no. We're friends….yeah that's the word she used….We've been best friends since like forever. I mean really like forever we became friends the day after she was born. Anyway it's not like that. You know, she's..."

"An admirable specimen, quite gorgeoussssss actually."

"Uh, OK."

**"**Hey, Ron!"

Startled by Kim's sudden appearance Ron gasped out loud.

"I've been looking all over for you. What are you doing?"

"Well I've been talking to Snake" Ron said quickly. "And he's been talking back" he whispered to her.

"Hey I am The Ssssnake. How you doing?" it said with a wink.

"You can talk?"

"I am a ssspecical snake, but not assss ssspecial as you apparently….depending on who you asssk of course."

"Oh well, I wouldn't as far as to say we're special" Kim grinned.

The snake looked upon Kim admiring. "Y'know I think we all can get along very well."

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**Monday**

Kim had taken a liking to the snake. Which wasn't a surprise; she had never been slighted in the least by anything in the animal line. She trusted them all, they all trusted her. Because she didn't betray them, they wouldn't betray her. Ron had held a similar philosophy until he noticed the snake had captured much of Kim's attention lately.

"Guysss, I am going to be honessst you've never ssseen me but I've ssseen you. I've ssseen all the animals, but in beauty none of them equalssss you. Your hair, your eyessss, your face, you form, beautiful, adorable, perfect."

Such statements gave Kimberly much pleasure. She looked herself over, putting out a foot and a hand to admire them. Meanwhile the snake slithered down the trunk of a tree.

"Maybe, well it's nice to think one is beautiful" she said naively. "Oh and Ron is the same as well."

"Nice of you to remember I was here" Ron remarked. "Did you mention to it that we've known each other since your creation? I might have missed it when you told the Snake I knew you first"

The Snake slithered down the tree trunk with a laugh. "The man hissss beauty isss in hisss functionality, he isss built for the work. But he'sss a prototype." The Snake encircled Kim, "but the woman, ssshe isss the work of art. Ssshe isss the finished project. Ssshe is truly where beauty liessss and she can readily ssssee it in other thingsss."

Kim blushed, "well you know I do look pretty good with flowers in my hair."

"I'm ssso sssure, why don't I go get ssssome so we can sssshow you off."

With that the snake slid along the ground into a bush.

"That snake is very impressive," Kim said.

"You're right he does talk too much," Ron agreed.

Kim rolled her eyes. "The Snake and I have been talking about the tree. What did the voice tell you about it again?"

"What _didn't_ the voice tell me is a better question? It's called the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. I know, it's a ridiculously long name, I pointed that out but what are you going to do. Anyway eating from the fruit brings death into the Garden. It should be stayed away from."

"Well what is that?"

"What's what?" Ron asked.

"Good and evil, those two."

Ron shrugged. "How should I know, I've never met them?"

"You should have some idea."

"I should?"

"You were here first!" Kim said with exasperation.

"Yet I know about as much as you do," he pointed out. "And honestly possibly even less."

"OK, what about death then?"

"I've got nothing," he admitted.

"Hmmm, what do you _think_ it means then?" She inquired.

"You're asking me to think about something I can't even imagine," Ron told her.

"Good point," she said. They sat in silence turning the puzzle in their head.

It was about then that the snake made its way back. It chuckled lightly to itself as it made its way towards them. "Can you believe that I forgot I don't have any armsss and legsss? How was I sssupposssed to collect flowers Hahaha. Sssso what are you guys talking about?" It asked with feined curiousity.

"Sssnake, what's death?" Kim asked.

The Snake appeared to ponder this. "Well Death is like a very long sssleep."

Kim turned to Ron with a smile. "See that doesn't sound so bad. You like naps."

Turning her attention back to the snake she said. "What's good?"

"Hey , those are some complex conceptsss you're throwing out there. I could explain it to you but you probably won't get it. It'sss sssomething beyond you."

"What do you mean?" Kim challenged.

"Ya gotta be more, sssomething better….Evolve….To understand any of this ssstuff, you mussst have received a fine and noble and education! But hey gang, to get that you'll have to eat out of that tree. I wouldn't recommend it."

"Why not?" Kim asked as the Snake turned away from them.

The Snake turned its head around. "Because I don't think you can handle what tassssting the fruit bringsss. Ssssome of the other animalssss maybe but you humanssss, no offenssse but you're kind of fragile. If I were you I'd fear it. But I guessss you don't know what fear isss either."

"I am familiar with fear," Kim stated with fire in her eyes. "I think I can handle whatever comes my way."

"Oh." The snake said delightfully. "Beautiful, intelligent and ambitiousss; you might be more sssspecial than I thought. I admire your….tenacity. Well lisssten the applessss are the ultimate shortcut, you'll get everything all at once, and you'll see it all in a whole new light instantly. But alas I warn the all of it maybe be _impossible_ for you to handle."

Feeling lost and indifferent to the conversation, Ron slinked away from the discussion. He found Rufus and conveyed his growing dismay.

"I'm starting to feel like a third leg," Ron said.

Rufus offered confusion in response to Ron's expression.

"Third leg….Y'know like um…uh….OK it that one could use a little work."

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**Thursday**

She was completely taken with the Snake now. They seemed inseparable and they participated in long and engaging chats. The Snake would offer tidbits of information but it would stop itself short of explaining anything thoroughly by saying that Kim couldn't possibly understand without proper knowledge. Ron would attempt to follow along but at a distance.

One morning when she was standing sun drenched on a boulder, watching the flight of a bird in the sky with her head tilted back and her hand shading her eyes, he realized the Snake was right about one thing in particular.

She was beautiful.

And it occurred to him, if she would step away from the snake he could come to enjoy looking at her for any length of time.

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**Tuesday**

Sighing quietly Ron tossed a piece of melon towards the cave wall and watched as it went splat. It was his second day in the cave alone and he had no intention of stepping out anytime soon. Not until this dark mood he was in had been lifted from his body.

"Anyone home?" Kim called out from the cave entrance.

"Maybe," Ron blurted out.

What he had really wanted to say was no. But he couldn't bring himself to declare something that far from the truth.

"Hey," Kim said as she crept into the cave and sat beside Ron. "The snake has….advised me to try the fruit."

"Kim, this is simple the tree is bad we need to stay away!"

"Bad? What's bad? How can we do bad if we don't know what bad is? Like the snake says, if we don't know about bad, and we can't do bad, then how can anything we do not be anything but right?"

Ron ran his hands across his forehead. "I think I just heard something snap in here."

"It's something we should consider."

"Here's what we should consider. How the heck did a talking Snake get into the Garden in the first place?"

"Ron this could be the start of something special."

"Start of something or the end of everything!"

"I'm getting the feeling that something more than the apples is bothering you."

"You're right, drastic change in our world couldn't be the one thing on my mind…." He paused. "And no, I'm not jealous of the snake."

"Jealous?"

"A feeling I discovered……..one that I'm totally not feeling at the moment."

"Ron, please, get a grip. The snake, the apples they're not going to change what we have."

"You'dthink my mind would be at ease then."

Kim sighed deeply. "We'll talk tomorrow."

Slowly but surely she made her way out of the cave.

"I'm not jealous!" Ron shouted at the entrance.

Kim stepped away from the cave and found the snake waiting for her.

"Isss the man ok?

Kim looked back towards the cave. "I think he's okay. He'll be OK."

"You know what'sss bessst of courssse. Maybe you ssshould lead by example. Time to make a ssstatement"

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**Wednesday:**

With an hour or two until sundown Ron rested at the base of a grassy hill. Despite what was happening in his personal life he did not see a reason for him to break up his sleeping pattern. His eyes were set to close when everything around him erupted into a tempest of frightful noises. Ron quickly jumped to his feet. He scrambled up the hill, once at the top he looked down onto a flowery plain to see that every beast was destroying its neighbor. A blood curdling screech made him whip around to see a lion pounce upon a lamb.

"Hey!" Ron called out. "You…you cut that out!"

The lion lifted its fangs from the lamb's neck and roared in Ron's direction. Every single piece of hair on the back of Ron's neck stood up, and his legs began to tremble.

"K, when you put it that way, I can totally see your point" Ron muttered timidly.

The lion took a nice meaty chunk from the lamb and so Ron took the opportunity to dash in the opposite direction. Ten minutes away from flowery battlefield he leaned against a tree to collect his breath. When his normal breathing pattern had returned he felt a prick on his arm and swatted at it. He looked down at his open palm and discovered a squashed mosquito taking its last breaths.

"What in the….?"

Before he could finish he felt another prick on his arm. Instinctively he swatted at again. Then there was another prick on his calf and then on his cheek, all four of them. Before he could mutter another sound, a swarm of mosquitoes descended upon him like a dark cloud.

"Ohh, Oww! That is stingy and itchy!"

His arms failing, Ron screamed his way through a sea of tall grass. He had run a complete mile when he tripped upon a stone and landed face first into a puddle of mud. Ron lifted his head out of mess and groaned as the mosquitoes feasted upon his back.

"I'm really having a bad day."

Then it dawned on him. If he was having a bad day, then so was Kim. Spurred on by the thought of Kim in trouble Ron clamored to his feet.

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A/N If your sticking around this story thanks alot cuz I'm really having a good time with it. P.S if you haven't guessed yet the Snake is modeled after a uh certain synthodrone. Read and review


	5. found to be good

A/N Ok from here on in there will be a departure from the source of inspiration. There's much more I wanted to do with this story. Plent of fun details I wanted to add but I that the narrative still is better being simple and sort of concise. Again thanks for reading

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**Thursday Morning:**

He searched for her well into the night. He dodged and ran from any animal that posed any threat. Unfortunately the number of animals that did pose a threat to him was closer to all of them as opposed to a select few. He had managed to avoid injury until he ran into a persistent boar. For reasons unknown to Ron the boar appeared to enjoy chasing him through the forest. It was still barreling down on him when Ron felt his legs give way. After collapsing from exhaustion he rolled onto his back in preparation of defending himself. He looked up just in time to see something fly through the air and strike the boar. It collapsed mid run, with blood pouring from its neck. Shocked Ron sat up quickly just as Kim came out from the shadow of a tree. Her body was curtained in boughs and bunches of leaves.

"Kim!" he shouted. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah I am."

"You ate from the tree?"

She nodded solemnly.

His eyes darted from the boar with the sharpened stick sticking from its neck than back at Kim.

"You saved me. Thank you."

"Don't mention it," she replied.

"The boar...?"

"It's dead I think" she said sadly.

"The stick...?"

"I made it after I....." she sighed. "The animals they came at me from everywhere so..."

Ron glanced at the boar. "It's good, the sticks work. The sticks help against claws and teeth. Claws and teeth are troublesome."

He pointed to the leaves on her body as he walked towards her. "What's with the uh…"

"Clothes…it's called clothes."

Before she could further explain Ron tripped up on his own feet. His flailing hands effectively snatched the leaves off of her. When he looked up at her body in its natural state she tittered, blushed, and strategically placed her hands over certain areas of her body before eventually diving quickly behind a tree.

"What's the matter?" Ron shouted after. Confused by her reaction; he had never seen anyone titter and blush before; he dashed after her.

"Don't come any closer!" she said from behind the tree. "Not until I cover myself up!"

"Cover yourself up? Why?"

"I'm naked!" She shouted at him.

Ron paused to comprehend her apprehensiveness. He drew a massive blank. "So….."

"You can see me, all of me" she called out.

Ron glanced at his own nude-ness. "So……."

"You wouldn't understand. You just don't know" she said softly.

Hesitantly he leaned against the tree Kim was behind. "What's wrong?"

"I…the fruit…..it does things….you know things…" she said hurriedly.

"Maybe….maybe the snake knows how to get things back to normal." Ron sighed.

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She knew it was a mistake right after a single bite. With the snake looking on she tasted it and the fruit fell from her hand. Like one who had awoken slow and confusedly out of sleep, she stared vacantly at the smirking creature. She moaned out loud and her head dropped low as she was completely overwhelmed by a wave of "feeling."

Moments later the world around her had erupted into a battlefield as the animals went wild. So she ran off to find a safer, higher ground.

Now she was before the tree once again, confronting a former friend.

"I knew I'd find you hear…you….you…..snake!"

"Nice inssssult, lossser" the snake yawned as it hung from a branch of the tree of knowledge. "By the way why don't you follow your friend'sss lead and throw ssssomething on. I'm sssso tired of you _hanging_ around all the time, you get me?"

"Is there a way to reverse what has happened?" Kim told it.

"Reversssse," the snake snorted. "Conssssider it like water in a waterfall folksss. From now on things are only gonna go one way, and that is down."

"You tricked her!" Ron said.

"Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong….it was all about choicesss…and ssshortcuts…....choicesss and sshortcuts are what the tree is all about. I guess you weren't ready for it huh red?! Mwhahahahahahaha let's sssee who the favorite issss after thisss!"

"What's going to happen?" Kim shouted angrily.

The snake cackled happily. "Lady let me introduce you to a concept called fate. What you got to do now is lay down and accept it!"

Kim and Ron had stepped towards the snake when the sky suddenly darkened. They looked up to see lightening streaking across the black sky. Thunder roared in the heavens and it shook them to the core.

"What's happening?"

"Sweet voice, it's the voice!" Ron exclaimed.

The snakes' smile grew so wide Ron imagined that it would run down the length of its body. "Ssssneak peek at the future my little feminine 'favorites.' From Eden and the joys will come poverty and pain, hunger and cold, heartbreak, tearsss and ssshame, envy, ssstrife, malice and dissshonor, wearinessss, remorssse, dessssperation, and then old age where you will beg for the ssssweet releassse of death. All kinds of ssssuffering in a ssshort period of time and for no rational reassson that you comprehend and you will go through it all alone!"

Ron was confused yet he noted the smugness on the snake's face, and then the horror upon Kim's as she stared entranced at the dark sky. Then he remembered, Kim with the fishes, going over the waterfall, the wolves, how he had abandoned Kim once before, and all the good times he had since she showed up. All this he remembered.

He reached up, snatched an apple from the tree and shoved it into his mouth. He swallowed the apple with a tremendous gulp.

"Gaahhhh!" he gasped. "It takes like sin!"

"Ron what have you done?" Kim cried out.

"No idea!" Ron said as he ran his hands rapidly across his tongue.

"Ah it can't get any better," snake said it dropped down from the tree. "Naïve and ssstupid, you guyssss are a sssssscream!

Kim huddled beside Ron, "you didn't have to….."

"Have to….want to….they're just words that I barely understand anyway. I feel like I did the right thing anyway."

Ron glanced down curiously at his body. "Hanging out...I get it now! Y'know my body is not as interesting as yours."

Quietly Kim helped him to his feet and wrapped her arms around him for the world's first hug.

"Oh hey," Ron called to the snake. "Before we got here I stopped by to see the only animal friend I got left in here."

"Sssso what?" The snaked hissed.

"Did you know that snakes and mongooses don't get along?" Kim remarked.

"And?" It snapped.

Rufus suddenly stepped into its field of vision. The mole rat stood on its hind legs and squeaked out loud. Then as if on cue a dozen or so snarling mongooses abruptly surrounded the tree.

"Hey guys I was just having some fun. Ya know it was a prank!"

The snake turned towards Ron and Kim. They gathered Rufus off the ground and they turned and went their way hand in hand. And so they passed from its sight, as the mongooses advanced.

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**Friday:**

Hiding was a temporary option. The Seraphim found them and though they explained their case the Voice passed judgment. They were both to be banished from Eden. The worst case scenario had come to be reality and Ron found himself clinging to the gates of Eden from the outside.

"It all seems so final. I feel really put out by all this" Ron muttered as he placed his head against the locked gate. "Where are we?"

"I dunno. I know where we're NOT" she replied.

Rufus squeaked in despair so Ron bent down to pet him. "The voice….he still loves us."

"Maybe" Kim announced.

Ron stood up and he looked past the gate. He viewed the waterfalls, lovely birds, lush forests and fruit trees bending over because of the large amounts of fruit on them.

Panic stricken Ron attempted to squeeze through the bars of the gate. But only his arm could get through. He reached out for the Garden.

"Paradise! I miss it! I want back there so bad! All my stuff is in there! Please let me in, let me back in, I'm so sorry!"

He continued to press against the gate until he heard an unfamiliar sniffling sound. He turned to look at Kim only to see water pouring from her eyes. She wiped it away with the back of her hands but the water kept on coming.

"It's over, it's all over," she said in dismay.

Seeing her in such a state caused Ron an unprecedented amount of distress.

"Wait, that doesn't sound like you?"

Kim sat down and pulled her knees up to her chest. "What?"

"That sounds like more like me. I don't like it……If you have to blame somebody for what happened blame that stupid snake, not yourself. "

"That was my fault. I listened to him."

"Whoa, it was a smooth talking snake. Show me someone that doesn't pay attention when a snake is talking and I'll show you a corpse. Talking snake not really the easiest thing to ignore if you ask me."

"No, it was my fault…I….I…I don't know!" She cried out loud. "It wasn't about the snake or what it said I just … I just wanted something more from it all…. I think….I don't know why but I did! I did it! I ate from the forbidden tree! And now we're ruined!"

There was a moment of silence as Ron slowly approached her crying form. He kicked a tiny stone underfoot and said. "I know why you did it. I never said anything but when I ran away, when I was away from you, I got really bored among other things. If you weren't around I just would have kept on eating and sleeping…eventually y'know I would have gotten tired of it….."

He sighed. "You did it for the exact same reason I would have done it. We were going to eat from that tree no matter what. We didn't need a snake for that. The other animals would have stayed away from the fruit for sure, but we're something else, we're something different Kim, we're not normal…"

"We could have ignored it." Kim said.

"The snake? We already talked about that, he was a TALKING snake!"

"The tree," Kim interrupted.

"Oh, well……I'll say this; you can't tell people that they can do everything except this one thing, and expect them never to do it! I tell you something else I don't get the point!"

Kim closed her eyes for a moment and opened them. "Maybe we'll figure it out someday."

Ron shrugged then he held out his open hand to Kim. "Hey at least we're still together."

Smiling she took her hand in his and climbed to her feet. "Yeah separating us that would have been the worst punishment of all."

"You're right it could be so worse," Ron nodded; he looked out into the horizon where he spotted only miles and miles of sand. "Kim you remember when you saved me from the wild boar."

"Yeah?"

"Something tells there are going to be a lot more of those situations. So I'm going to thank you advance."

"I'll say the same to you."

"Me? Nah I can't see where I can be of any help out here."

"Well I'll keep you around anyway." She looked towards the gates.

"So long, Eden_" _Ron said.

"Maybe it's not the end of the world." She made a gesture with her head. "Let's go."

"Where?" He asked.

"Wherever we want. We're starting a whole new adventure" She looked Ron over and her cheeks turned beet red. "But first we'll have to get you some clothes."

Ron quickly placed his hands over the appropriate area. "Riiihgt the nudity."

He discreetly and quickly looked Kim over. The leaves were barely hanging off her body. "Maybe the clothes aren't all that necces…."

"We need the clothes Ron" she said cutting him off.

"Fine" he sighed.

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A/N I want to go beyond the "Fall" a bit if you don't mind. Probably won't be more than three short chapters left folks. Then the story is kaput. Which is a shame. Read and review.


	6. and continued to grow

A/N Hiya folks. So yeah like I said I would be diverging from the original source of inspiration now. So the story may get better or worse depending on how you look at it XD. Anyway coming down to the wire: Updates: Working on A.L.L among others in the meantime

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**Autumn**:

They had been driven out into the harsh wilderness. The Garden was lost to them now. Looking back, it was surpassingly beautiful, enchantingly delightful. And to Kim's sorrow she realized it was likely she would never see it again. It had been three months and new experiences had been coming at them faster than they could have ever imagined. Knowledge did not come without lessons and they learned much in those first few months. New words and phrases such as hunger, thirst, and weariness of the body were quickly added to their vocabulary. Then there was the sleep that no longer completely refreshed, and the dreams that would restore Eden and then banish it upon waking.

Kim edged herself down a sloping ledge that led to a precipice. Exhausted and shaken, with a sharpened stick in her hand, she stared down over the edge. She watched the area diligently until her target came into view below. He had been gone longer than she anticipated so the sight of him caused her to sigh with relief, even though he was currently being chased by what appeared to be a massive ram. While Ron's arms flailed wildly about his body his screams reached towards the heavens. Kim gripped the sharp stick tightly in her hand and aimed. The situation was grim, Ron was in serious danger. If she missed…with a shake of her head she pushed the possibilities from her mind.

Kim decided that she would not miss; no she indeed could not miss. She aimed, judged the distance, waited for the ram to get into position, and then let the weapon fly through the air. She held onto her breath until the stick struck the animal at the base of its neck. The ram's body convulsed violently before crashing into the ground. Ron upon seeing his pursuer go down collapsed himself into an exhaustive heap. When Kim reached him his chest was still heaving up and down.

"That was close" he spluttered from the floor.

She knelt beside him. "Ron, you were supposed to be scouting. How did you manage to infuriate a ram?"

He sat up quickly. "I think the question to be asked is, whether ram fur itches as much as deer fur, because I am in need of a new loin cloth." He looked down at the material wrapped around his waist. "Now hear me out. Ram fur also looks better, it's a given that clothes will be uncomfortable, but I've been thinking it can be uncomfortable but stylish."

"What happened?"

"Before or after I got lost?" Ron replied earnestly.

She sighed heavily.

"Kim, we can sit here and discuss me tossing my stick into a hornets' nest and then running into a bear…."

"When did this…?"

"….or we can celebrate what just happened; how we worked together to take down this mighty beast."

Kim's right eyebrow arched. "You were almost….." She allowed her words to trail off.

"You could see it like that..." He said while drawing in some air. "Or it could be I distracted this vicious beast and you took him out with your superior stick throwing-ness. Teamwork I call it!"

Kim walked away allowing Ron to catch his breath. She slowly strolled towards the ram. With careful preparation it would be a decent source of food and bits of clothing. She glanced over her shoulders at Ron. The man could be very aggravating at times. There were many situations that became more difficult because of his involvement. He left himself open to animal attacks, or he would occasionally misplace some of the food that he was meant to guard. She let out another heavy sigh. Still though she would be lying if she called him unreliable, they couldn't have gotten this far if he was unreliable.

Crouching over the large ram, Kim inspected its body. She looked over to see Ron wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Kim I don't know about you, but I think the ground around here is the hardest yet. We need to find some ground that's easier on the feet."

He would complain frequently, but only about the most unusual or inconsequential things. Things that Kim was sure, if there were others like them around, they wouldn't complain about it. They would be in the middle of an enormous downpour of water from the sky and he would mention how strange it felt for one to have mud between ones toes. Kim closed her eyes, she had to admit because of her experiences in the Garden with him she had some initial doubt that he could handle the pressures of the outside. But through the hardest times, when even she felt things were getting dire, there was still a strong light behind his eyes. She found some comfort in that light. It occurred to Kimberly that although he had needlessly endangered himself, she could not remain upset with him for very long.

She opened her eyes and found that he was staring at her. Their eyes met for a moment and then he turned away quickly. It was a strange occurrence, however strange occurrences were rather usual with him. She reached for the stick embedded in the ram and pulled it out with one hand. Standing over the beast triumphantly, she glanced back at Ron. But he continued to avert his gaze.

She would have gladly accepted if he was looking at her. For some reason there were times when he did glance in her direction and it instantly lifted her spirits. At the moment she was feeling particularly powerful, cunning….and pretty.

She wouldn't have minded if he had mentioned that.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Not long after the fall Ron he realized that he wanted to be with her. This was immediately followed by the conclusion that he was with her. He was with her everyday almost all the time. A pleasant experience in the most part but it didn't quell this strange feeling of longing. It was the strangest notion that had ever befallen him. She was there when he went to sleep; she was there when he awoke. But still he couldn't help but think more could be had. Once again he recalled the traitorous snake at the Garden. It had asked him if Kim was his mate, at the time he thought the idea was absurd. Now it flooded his thoughts whenever he allowed his mind to wander. He indifferently observed the mating process between the animals. Two tigers, two rabbits, two cats, two dogs, the animals would pair off all the time. At first he never gave these things a second thought, but now it seemed that nature was flaunting its couples right in his face.

For all intents and purposes he and Kim were mates. Yet there was a gap between them he was becoming more and more aware of them. Most of the time it was unnoticeable and then there were times it was glaring. The gap was equally as small as it was large.

It was maddening.

Ron could not deny he was prone to missing the obvious, however the solutions to his problem was as clear as day. He had two options the first being that he could follow the lead of certain animals and simply bite Kim on the back of her neck until she yielded to being his mate. After considering this he concluded that it was a rather crude method, and more importantly he would probably be facing physical harm if he attempted this with Kim. The second solution was to attempt to express how he felt to her using words. It appeared appropriate with her being the one of the two who most enjoyed words,

However upon further study both options were equally as terrifying. What if he attempted to express what he felt and she didn't feel the same. He imagined the sorrow that would come from her rejecting his offer to be her mate.

But why would she reject him anyway?

He counted his potential defects on his fingers and toes.

It was clear there were a number of reasons she would say no. But he did have one advantage. There was no one else! He was the only option. Ron considered this idea for a moment and it lost much of its appeal as he thought more about it. He didn't want to be her mate because she had no other choice. He wanted her to feel the same for him as he did with her. He wanted whatever this strange feeling he had to be exchanged.

No, things were fine between them. It wasn't up to him to spoil one of the few pieces of happiness the world seemed to be offering them. The risk was too great. He contemplated this new feeling that was gnawing at him and decided upon naming it greed. Wanting more than was needed, or possibly deserved. Ron figured that greed was a feeling that could only cause trouble in this world.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was observable that the weather was growing colder, yet there was no rain. For as long as Kim could remember coolness came with rain. Now cold breezes came in quickly and suddenly as she was experimenting with seeds. The sudden change of temperature instantly grabbed her attention. She had found another problem to solve and something else to learn about in this new world. Kim would not deny that this did not excite her a bit. The man had often commented on her apparent strong urge to tackle as many different tasks as she could. He was not wrong in this conclusion she thought. There was something to be said about accomplishment in the face of difficulty.

At first she couldn't figure out why she had been made. For now she imagined it was their mission to search out the secrets of this world and to overcome the obstacles posed in these missions. She had found seeds grew into the plants, discovered how to milk cows and that water never runs uphill. That last discovery wasn't as important to their lives as the former ones but it was an interesting observation nonetheless.

Now though she had been mostly preoccupied with the life missions she didn't miss the subtle changes in Ron. He appeared slightly more serious in his demeanor. For any creature that knew Ron, this was a world of difference. The first month after their banishment he had offered her "dibs" on any of the important (hard) work they may encounter. Then he offered to "superintend" or look over her work if necessary. Admittedly it was a fine sounding word he had come up with, but that fact didn't do much to relieve some of her annoyance.

Now he worked a bit harder, slept slightly less, and seemed more diligent. But more importantly to her he didn't seem as happy. He was frustrated for long periods of time, which lead to situations such as him lashing out at a tree when an acorn landed on his head. He walked by with his shoulders a lot more slumped and his head hanging low. And he turned his head quickly anytime she caught him glancing in her directions. But he never talked about what was wrong. Eventually she resolved that she would have to drag the problem from him.

"Ron, what are you doing?" She asked when she found him petting a horse and staring blankly into space.

"I keep telling you Rufus, she's not my mate!" he said quickly.

"What?" Kim exclaimed.

"Huh?"

"What are you talking about?" she told him.

"I don't know anymore" he sighed.

"You said something about mate…?"

He shook his head. "No I don't think so. I've never said or thought that word in my life."

"But…?"

Ron shook his head rapidly in response. "Never thought about it."

Kim gestured towards the horse. "Were you talking about the…"

"No! For one thing he's a horse…..and a male!" He said adamantly. "I'm just studying the animals; you do it all the time. I don't question when you study."

"Fine," Kim said with exasperation. "Ron I'm a little worried about you."

At that moment he was no longer listening to her. She followed his eyes to see the male horse had trotted off towards a female. The male strolled eagerly towards the female before nuzzling her face. Then the two went away side by side into the forest caressing each other.

"I'm not sure, but I think those two might be in greed" Ron sighed.

"Greed?"

He turned to her. "Huh? You say something?"

"You said something" she replied.

He shook his head. "No I didn't…… Kinda cold today huh? …..I-I-I'm going to go pick some fruit."

She watched him leave while wondering if Ron had finally succumbed to the pressure of the outside world.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Winter**:

It was called snow, or more specifically she called the "white thing falling from the sky that turned into water when it landed on your skin" snow. It was cold, bitter cold; and the wind instead of caressing their skin like it did back in the garden, cut at them. Unfortunately getting more fur for their clothing was much more difficult since there appeared to be fewer animals around. Kim speculated that most of the animals had gone south to avoid the weather. Ron agreed; though he wondered who could have warned them and why didn't he/she/it bother to warn him and Kim. Eventually they both agreed that standing in the snow would do them no good.

"I remember the birds flying in this direction, so if we head south we'll probably be ok. It should be warmer." Kim said as they trudged through the snow

"Warmer is good. I've no problem with warmer."

Ron did not doubt her words. If she guessed that things were warmer towards the south then it was a good chance it was. If Kim knew how to do anything, it was to how to find a way to stay alive. A set of skills that Ron had grown to appreciate, seeing how it benefited him greatly as well. He didn't trust her with preparation of food but he no qualms about placing his life in her hands.

Ron scanned his immediate surroundings. "This wouldn't be so bad if snow was a different color. White is a little depressing."

"Would you rather it be all black?" Kim said.

"Good point."

Rufus popped out of a pouch in Ron's clothing and shivered violently. "Don't worry friend we will be fine."

Rufus slipped back into the pouch and Ron continued to look around. "What's the point of snow anyhow? It's not like it can be eaten, so why?"

"I'm sure it has a reason, everything has a reason for existing" Kim told him.

"Yeah I'm sure it has its reason, but I bet sometimes the reasons for some things don't make sense."

"You're not going to just talk about snow until we get South are you?"

Kim turned towards him, she was about to continue talking when a sharp expulsion of air escaped from her mouth. Quickly she placed her hands over her mouth. But the loud whooping sound came from her mouth again. It was then that Ron noticed how pale Kim had gotten. Liquid was pouring from her eyes and her nose. She took a step forward and suddenly began to wobble. Ron reached over and grabbed her before she hit the ground.

* * *

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A/N Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Probably two chapters left.


	7. stronger

A/N Coming down to the wire. Thanks to those still reading. Short one here.

* * *

It wasn't that she hadn't noticed the migration of the animals; it was just a horrible miscalculation. They had learned many of their survival skills form the animals, so she wasn't one to ignore their behavior. It was as noted a miscalculation of time, so now they were caught in the unforgiving snow and howling wind. Though Kim was sure it was cold all around her, she felt nothing but heat. Her entire body ached and all her strength had left her. And worst of all a disgusting liquid was oozing from her nose. It was most embarrassing to have anyone or anything look upon her face at this time.

"I can feel you moving back there."

But what made things worst was that she was now a burden. Kim clung to Ron's back in the piggyback position as he trudged through the snow.

"Yes," she replied with a hoarse voice.

"Just keep in this direction right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kim turned her head to the side. Through a veil of drifting snow she caught sight of something four legged creeping about a few feet away from them. Squinting carefully she made out the silhouette of a wolf.

"Ron…?"

"From the worry in your voice I suppose you've noticed our friend. But I think it's alone and old."

"Are you sure?"

"If I wasn't right about this, we'd be a meal right now."

This was terrible. Not only did they have to fight the weather but now there was a predator on their tail. If the wolf attacked now she wouldn't have the strength to fight it off. A feeling of uselessness introduced itself to Kim and she immediately hated this feeling. After much consideration the woman decided that without her weight the man could get away from the wolf. It felt like the appropriate time for someone to sacrifice something.

"Ron."

"Is what I've named myself."

"Let me down."

"Are you feeling better? Do you think you can walk?"

"I…well….no I want you to leave me…" she said with a slight tremble in her voice "…You can walk faster without me."

"What about the wolf and the snow?"

"I'll take care of myself" she said staunchly.

"You can't even climb off my back. If you had any strength, I know you would have climbed down by now."

"Just let me down" she said weakly. "It's for the best."

"Um….no."

"Why, not?" Kim exclaimed.

"Because…" he said.

"Because what?"

He paused for quite a long time. "Well we're an experiment by your own words remember? If one part doesn't make it then the experiment fails right? You can't have a half an experiment walking around can you?"

"You're being unreasonable," Kim grumbled.

"Probably," Ron sighed. "What you need to do know is stop worrying. I'll find a place you can rest up."

"But like this we'll both die, you should at least save yourself."

"I'd rather save us both actually. I've seen you do it all; maybe I can give it a try. Kim, remember when you were talking about 'meaning' when we were in the Garden. I think I'm feeling a lot of that right now."

This argument appeared to curtail her enthusiasm for a fight.

"So we're going to make it, trust me."

Silence

"Ron…"

"Yeah?"

Kim rested her head against his back. "I think I'll keep you around."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He was glaring deeply into the cackling fire when she suddenly sat down beside him. He let out a loud gasp that echoed along the walls of the cave. He had focused so much on the fire that he didn't notice her walking towards him from the other side of the cave.

"Awake?" he asked when she suddenly sat down beside him. "You've been coming in and out for a few days now."

"I am feeling much better, thank you." She sniffled softly before wrapping the partially bloody wolf fur tighter around her body.

He felt his heart flutter. He quickly snatched a piece of dry meat of a rock and offered it to her. "Wolf meat is so terrible but when you're hungry…"

Kim received the meat graciously. "How?"

Ron revealed the ugly flesh wound running down his right arm, "with much difficulty, painfulness and scariness."

Kim inspected the wound with a look of concern on her face.

"Oh no" Ron slapped himself in the forehead. "I forgot I wasn't supposed to show you that."

"Why not?" She frowned.

"I thought it would have made you sad. But I guess I'm kind of proud of it a little…..Hurts a lot though."

He inhaled deeply and drew some of the warmth from the fire into his body. "I'm so glad you came up with fire."

"I told you it would be useful."

Ron glanced down at her and she caught his gaze. Quickly he whipped his head in the opposite direction.

"What is the matter?"

"Sorry, I'll stop looking at you" he said hurriedly. "I'm glad you're awake now. We can't stay here for very much longer. We have to make it south as soon as possible."

Kim nodded. "I don't think we're that far away from where we need to be. We'll make it for sure."

He smiled. "Nice to have you back Kim."

There was a heavy silence in the cave as Kim studied the twittering man. To the horror of his nerves she moved even closer. "You don't have to stop looking at me." She said simply.

"Hmmm?"

"It makes me happy when you do."

Ron wracked his brain for an appropriate response. "Good. I want to make you happy…" his words trailed off and Kim felt his body tense up beside her.

After a long pause Kim would resume. "What are you thinking about?"

"Uh, me and you….us…we…uh I was thinking…..mate…." He paused "mating….I want to be your mate….which would make you my mate too…"

"Oh."

Ron gulped loudly. "I, um, enjoy the sound of your voice, the way you look after you wake up from sleep, honestly the way you look is actually really enjoyable most of the time, I enjoy talking to you, and being around you, I enjoy you allot…yeah…. really…..ok…I don't know…"

Kim leaned into him. "I just told you that when you look at me it makes me feel good. I didn't think I could feel happier than that but—"

Ron's right eyebrow arched.

"--I was wrong," she said.

Ron appeared puzzled. "So are we mates now?"

She leaned over and pressed her lips against his. It was a quick peck, short but enjoyable.

Ron pulled away with a smile on his lips. "What was that?"

Kim shrugged with a crimson tinge to her face. "I don't know, but it seemed like the right thing to do….and it was a yes"

"OK"

There was a moment of silence as Ron twiddled his thumb under the glow of the fire.

"Let's try it again" he said abruptly.

This time he leaned in. He leaned slowly, very slowly, about an inch for every half minute. Impatiently Kim wrapped her arms around his head and dragged him into their second kiss. Ron's eyes slammed shut as he lost himself in the embrace.

Eventually they would break for air.

"I think we're on to something good" Kim proclaimed with a smile.

Ron found that he could not disagree with her conclusion.

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A/n One more to go (most likely) The countdown begins (Its a big deal cuz I rarely finish stories XD) Read and review.


	8. until the very end

A/N. Funny thing this story has the most consistent set of reviewers of any of my stories (including MW) A big thanks to you guys who have been there from the beginning even when the story probably started off looking shaky. I knew this was a hit or miss from the start. But I've been letting the muse off the leash a bit lately. To my surprise its been a relative success. So yeah technically I've ripped off one of America's greatest authors but still its been a good experience. XD

* * *

The Garden was lost, possibly for good. But Kimberly found something else and it had made her much more than content. It was the feeling Ron had dubbed greed. Kim however would come to feel that the name "greed" didn't fit the "specialness" of such a feeling. Greed seemed to carry a negative connotation to it. Upon further thought she decided they would change the name from "greed" to "love." It sounded "lovelier" to the ears she had decreed. Ron having had numerous reassurances that feelings were reciprocated did not feel the urge to debate over the name change. Though their feelings were mutual there were some differences to how they personally reacted to the onset of the powerful new emotion. Like an antelope to a watering hole Ron had initially approached the feeling with a slight apprehension. Kim in contrast embraced the feeling and welcomed it like the very air she breathed. To Ron's surprise, she never doubted the feeling. He loved her as well as he could and she loved him with all the strength of her, again to Ron's his surprise _and_ delight, passionate nature.

"Alright this is fine, are you ready? I'm ready…you ready…I'm ready…"

"Relax." Kim told him as she latched herself onto his arm.

From the top of the cliff on which they sat, they got a good view of the sea and the miles of jungle between them.

"I just wish it wasn't raining." Ron sighed.

There was a tiny drizzle coming down on them. However Kim did not mind it, in the grand scheme of things a little rain wasn't going to disturb this moment. Soon the sun cracked over the sea and illuminated the area in a moment's time.

"Ok here we go" she grabbed his hands and they stood up together.

Ron drew in a deep breath and he shouted at the horizon. "I love Kim!"

She in turn followed up by shouting "I love Ron!" at the top of her lungs.

When the sun had reached its zenith he turned to Kim and said simply. "There we go, we've just invented marriage."

Where did love come from? When asked, she would reply she did not know nor did she care to know. "This kind of thing is not a product of reasoning and experimentation. I think that must be so," she would say. "It just comes, no one knows where and it can't explain itself. I suppose it doesn't need to." She didn't love him because of his brightness….or lack thereof in certain aspects in life. It was not because of his graciousness and considerate ways that she loved. No, he had lacks in those regards; however he was improving every day. He was handsome but she would love him without that quality. At the core he was good and she loved him for that, he was strong where it counted and she was proud of him. So why did she love? "_Merely because he is Ron,"_ she thought. And when she looked around and made note that some of the animals mated indiscriminately, she realized that if there had been others the result would have been the same, it would have been Ron and only Ron.

And she would likely go on loving him, perhaps forever if given the chance. She knew this and mused upon it. Such a bold declaration was possibly a matter of gender and of course she was the first to examine this peculiarity. It may turn out that in her ignorance and inexperience she may have not gotten it right.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**That summer:**

"She's not in the mood…that's what she said to me," Ron declared as he trudged through the forest. "Not in the mood for THAT! How is that even possible?"

He glanced down at the little creature running alongside him. Rufus could only shrug at the man.

"You know what she said a few months ago? 'I have a headache.' Y'know what a headache is?" He said as he tapped his temples with his fingers. 'A pain in the head region' and that's by her own words. So I go and I'm trying to be helpful…..I say, 'y'know what would make you feel better' ……Of course she doesn't even let me finish my thought."

Ron threw his hands in the air. "It's the greatest discovery of all time. Fire, clothing, weapons, they can't compare! Why would anyone not want to do it?! I'm going to be honest Rufus it's better than eating."

Rufus' jaw dropped at this revelation.

"If it was up to me, we wouldn't stop. But the world doesn't seem to work like that. For some reason you can sleep for twelve hours a day, but trying to break past a dozen or so minutes is like trying to hold up the sky."

Ron sighed heavily. "Hey have you noticed how strange she's been acting these past few weeks."

Rufus shrugged once again.

"Some days she's a lamb other days she's a lioness. It all seems to happen randomly. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was losing her mind."

Rufus squeaked a response.

"Now I'm not saying she's eating too much, but I got bitten the other day reaching for the last piece of burnt fish. It's a little rude is all I'm saying."

With that said, he and Rufus broke through a clearing and into a valley. "According to the directions Kim gave me, this should be the place."

This time it was Ron's jaw that dropped. He recalled this piece of valley months before was nothing but empty space but now he was starring at rows of corn. Throwing himself against the rows Ron ran his hands through the leaves of corn in stunned silence. Here lay the vegetables of their labor. He had plowed parts of this field and Kim had seeded this…this….was.

Ron let a loud whopping laugh. "What do you think about me now nature?! I am Ron! I am man! Consider yourself tamed, ah Booyah!"

Quickly he snatched an armful of corn and rushed back to the shelter he and Kim had built. He burst in the shelter, dumped the corn upon the floor, and immediately leaped into explaining in detail his recent discovery.

"This feeling Kim it….it feels terrific, we did something amazing, the animals, the animals can't do what we've done Kim….. I've never felt so energized about work. I really feel like I uh….."

"Aaaaaaa-chieved some---ah---thing?"

"Yeah, achieved…good this feeling its….its….what do I call it…?" Ron replied as he paced about the room.

"Accom…plish….ment" Kim gasped.

"Yeah, yeah that's a good word" Ron conceded.

He stopped mid-pace. Tilting his head to the side he took in the sight of his mate who was currently clutching at her stomach and breathing rapidly through her mouth.

"Are you ok?"

"Something big is happening" she cried out. "I have a theory…….I worked it out a few weeks ago, I was going to surprise you eventually…when I was sure…I thought…I had time…."

"What's happening?" Ron asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

She gestured for him to come forward. He crossed the room, knelt beside her, and she took his hand.

"Y'know that thing you like to do.....with me?"

"Hey, hey don't act like you don't like it either." Ron's eyes widened. "And I hate to say this but, I don't think this is the right time."

"No, see the 'thing' has a side effect,." Kim groaned out in pain. "Remember those horses you used to watch. The ones you thought were in 'greed?' Remember there were two of them, and then some time later there were three?"

Ron's mind went into overdrive as he attempted to fit the pieces together. "You're having a pony?"

"No I……" Kim gasped loudly and placed her hands back over her belly.

Concern was visibly apparent on Ron's features as he wrapped his arms around her. Clearly Kim was struggling through pain. But she wasn't wounded, and there wasn't fear in her eyes…..no what was there was the fierce determination he had become used to seeing. He wasn't sure what was happening but he'd be there by her side.

She took his hand again. "Thank you" she muttered.

"Hey, I'm here for you."

"Good," she clamped down on his hand with a vice grip. "Because this is your fault."

Ron muffled a strangled cry. Gritting his teeth he bore the pain from his hand.

"'Kim, are you awake, Kim are you awake, Kim are you awake'….this is the fruits of your labor. Are you aware of that!" She growled through clenched teeth.

"Yah!" he managed to blurt out.

A look of sadness came to Kim's face as she released his hand. Then she gently caressed his cheek, "I'm so sorry, I love you so much."

"It's OK. I'm fine," Rom whimpered softly. He offered her his hand again and she graciously accepted it. "Don't worry whatever this is, it probably won't take long."

Twelve hours later Ron's eyes went from his bruised and battered hand to the tiny new creature currently in his arms. Kim at the moment was fast asleep on a mat of fur. She thankfully seemed to be fine now, he was fine relatively speaking, and the creature which had appeared to them screeching had since calmed itself. After the screaming, the blood, the pain, both their pain, and the shock of the creature's emergence, she had been physically spent and he had been emotionally spent. The only thing that was real to him at the moment was the pain in his hand. He looked down at the creature and wondered why its head was so _big_ compared to the rest of its body. And the head was also kind of pointy.

Ron closed his eyes and sucked in air.

"He's got your nose."

His eyes fluttered open just in time to see Kim drift back to sleep with a smile on her face. His attention turned back to the new creature. He studied the nose for a moment and then it's surprisingly green eyes. He wasn't sure about the nose but the creature had Kim's eyes.

Suddenly Ron was no longer aware of the pain in his hand.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They named him Cain, and he was a boy. The coming of the boy changed much of Kim's nature, as she had grown more cautious in her daily habits. Ron would remark humorously on her lack of individuality as she now carried Cain everywhere. She could not explain why but she thought of the boy more than she thought of herself. With that came major transitions within her daily routine. When she wasn't carrying the tiny Cain in her arms during the boy's troubled nights, she was lying around making foolish noises at the boy to amuse him. Other times she reveled in hugging her precious to her heart and smothering him with kisses.

"Maybe it wants to get in the water?"

With Cain in her arms Kim turned to Ron and gave him a hard stare. "I keep telling you _he's_ not part fish."

"Are you sure? Have you looked at it…him?" Ron muttered as he rubbed his bloodshot eyes.

Kim patted the screaming Cain on the back and made soft sounds with her mouth to soothe it.

"Let me just check if he can swim."

"No!" Kim blurted out as shining water drops trickled down her forehead.

Ron took in a deep breath. "OK, I've got a plan."

He picked himself off the fur mat and walked out of the shelter.

"If the plan involves the river you might as well forget it!" She called after him

Kim was not ready to let the baby near large bodies of water. Cain was a fragile thing; they needed to have the utmost caution around him. They needed to protect him. And Kim was ready to fight off a bear with her bare hands to protect Cain if it came down to it. It dawned on her then that she was in love with the baby. Of course it wasn't necessarily the same kind of love she was in with Ron, but it was just as strong.

"OK I'm back" Ron returned with an hour-glass shaped object made up entirely of lizard and goat skins. "I've been working on this in secret for a couple of weeks now. I didn't want to bring it out until it was ready."

He sat in the middle of the room, brought the object closer to his body and began to beat his hands against it. Kim listened to the soft rhythmic drumming and noted that Ron had apparently patterned it as close as he could to the beating of a heart.

"What do you call that sound?" Kim asked.

"Music."

"It's beautiful," she remarked. "What about the thing?"

"A beating circle" Ron replied.

Kim winced, "we'll work on the name later."

It was at that moment that Kim had noticed that the screaming had stopped. She glanced at Cain's drooping image and realized that the music had the profound effect of soothing the savage beast.

"He's falling asleep. Keep going he'll be out soon."

"Thank the voice," Ron sighed. "I haven't closed my eyes in three days."

Kim began to slowly move her body in rhythm with Ron's playing. She doubted things could get any better than they could at this moment. The two other people in this room meant the world to her. And as it happened this would be one of the first nights since the fall that her dreams wouldn't be invaded by the Garden.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Cain, Abel stop fighting!" He heard Kim call from outside of the shelter.

Ron sighed. Cain and Abel were scientifically classified as boys, though when Cain was born Ron had initially imagined the boy to be part fish. He and Kim had been created full grown. So he was a bit surprised at Cain coming into their lives in such a small form. When Cain started to crawl Ron revised his theory from fish to hairless bear. If Kim wasn't in the vicinity Ron would routinely check the boy for claws and fangs. It wasn't that he hadn't loved Cain but he was wary of being mauled in the middle of the night. Eventually Ron would settle on him being mostly boy, but part natural disaster.

"Ma, Cain is licking his finger and touching me again!"

"No, I'm not, Abel's a liar!"

Ron massaged his forehead. On the heels of Cain, came Abel and Seth, and their daughter Gladys. And boy, did Kim dote on them. Ron recalled back in the Garden Kim had often times curled up with bunnies in her arms as she slept, or she would hold wolf cubs close to her heart when strolling through the woods. However the way she acted now was the extreme, in rare moments he had wondered if she had lost her mind. It wasn't that he was jealous of the attention they were getting from his mate…….that wasn't the case in the least….in his mind. It was that he had seen her frustrated with the little ones running around but she was miles ahead of him in terms of coping with these mini tornadoes. They had four of them and Ron was still learning. Kim however, well it seemed to come natural to her like she had been born for this.

His eyes were coming to a close and he was on the edge of consciousness when he felt someone tug on his arm. Glancing upward Ron found the youngest boy Seth standing over his body with the drum Ron had created.

"Hey Da, can you teach me to play this?"

Ron stared quizzically at the boy for a long time. "You want to know how to play music? You're interested in that?."

"Yeah, and I'm hoping in time I'll be better than you at it."

Still half dazed Ron stood up. "Don't let anyone tell you you're not honest Seth. Have you tried playing it before?"

"Not really, but I have been studying you when you play."

"Studying me…." After a moment of quiet reflection Ron casually reached out his hand and grabbed Abel, who had been darting across the room, by the shoulder. "I believe your ma asked you to help her in the field today."

"Awwww!" Abel moaned.

"Hey Abe, have I ever taught you anything?"

The teenager Abel nodded, "herding sheep."

Ron ran a hand under his chin. "Right, you're really good at it."

"Ten times better than Cain" Abel said proudly.

"Who decided that?" The eldest Cain shouted as he marched into the room.

"What about you Cain, did I teach you anything important?" Ron asked.

Cain's face lit up. "One time you taught me how to shoot milk from my nose. Ma was so disgusted."

The three males in the room burst out into tremendous and rolling laughter. Eventually Ron would wipe tears from his eyes. "So what I'm seeing now is that you guys and Gladys of course, were created in my…..our image….Kim and I."

The boys exchanged glances and shrugs.

"Or something along those lines…..but less blasphemous." Ron placed his hand over his heart. "I'm feeling something now and it's hitting me right here."

"Fatherly pride!" Cain quickly blurted out.

Ron smiled and ran his hands through Cain's hair. "You can turn a phrase just like your mom."

Seth held up the drum. "So are you going to teach me?"

"Sons, I will teach you everything I know!" Ron exclaimed.

He pointed to Seth, "music." He pointed to Abel, "survival skills!" Then he pointed to Cain, "performance art!"

"With this knowledge you will take life into your own hands. You will learn to live long and prosper in this unforgiving world. With these tools I grant you roots and wings. Roots to grow and wings to soar……"

"Ma, da's doing the rant-speech thing again" Abel cried out.

Kim entered the room with baby Gladys in her arms. "I guess this is a good time as any. Ron we have to talk."

Ron stopped mid rant. He was all too familiar with the tone of Kim's voice. He glanced at his mate then his children. "Five?! Are you telling me it's not hard enough loving the four we already have!"

She placed a hand on her hip and stared at him. "Oh like it's all _my_ fault."

Immediately conceding to Kim's point without further protest Ron simply let out a sigh. "OK we might as well have a big feast to celebrate., Cain go gather some fresh milk and honey, Abel go snatch some fish for dinner, Seth play your mother something while I get her off her feet."

Ron grinned proudly as each child carried out their specific tasks.

"You know they're not all that bad when you get to know them," he grinned.

"I'm glad you like them," Kim handed Ron Gladys and kissed him deftly on the cheek. "Because I've just decided I want more."

The grin on his mate's face caused Ron's eyebrows to furrow. "How much more are we talking about here?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Everyone calm down!" Kim shouted into the air. She looked over the dozen or so little person's staring before her with a stern demeanor upon her face. "OK there is a possible storm coming and it looks big so we need to make sure everyone is close to home. Who is currently not here?"

She saw her daughter Channah's hand come up. "Aharon is playing by the river again."

Kim shook her head. She never approved of any of the children going off alone. But Aharon was the middle child of twenty so he was inclined to have his moods. She made a mental note to talk to the child before the day was out.

"Who else?" Kim asked.

"Diklah, Ehud and Gideon are gathering berries."

Kim nodded to herself, Ehud was sharp and resourceful. He would make sure his siblings got home before the storm. Now all that was left was for Ron to come back from visiting Cain and Abel and then she would have peace of mind.

"Da is back."

Kim turned to see Ron slowly approach. His face was pale and his gaze seemed to venture past them off into some unseen land. Before he noticed that she was coming towards him, Kim had already cut the distance between them to only a few feet. When Kim asked what troubled him so, he took her by the arm, instructed the children to stay put, and then wordlessly led her away from the family.

Ron took her to Cain's altar, where he had found his son lying on the ground with his head wounded and his body drenched with blood. He had said his eldest brother had struck him down, and then he spoke no more. His face was alabaster white but it came to look now as it had when he was a little child. Kim fell to her knees, visibly stunned she kissed the young man's cheeks to wake him as she had done years ago. His cheek was cold and he did not awaken. With her arms clinging at Abel's body and a veil of tears in her eyes, Kim begged and pleaded for the boy to answer her cries.

He did not, and she came to realize through her pain this was death. The long sleep that they had been warned of years ago had finally entered _their_ world. So she wept for her boy knowing he would wake no more, he would speak no more, and he would smile no more. Ron wrapped his arms around her and attempted to soothe her with words. But a wound had opened that could not be so easily healed.

Hours later as she walked back home with Ron by her side Kim offered prayers. A parent's prayer to never see another child pass before her, and another she had kept in her heart from as long as she could remember. It had been her longing that she and Ron would have passed from this life together. However if one of them should go first, it was her prayer that she would be the one. Life without him would not be a life at all, and she could not imagine how she would endure it. She imagined it to be a selfish prayer, but it was the prayer of the first wife. And she was sure it would be echoed by the last wife.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

55 years (or 900) years later

His only regret was that he was unable to find Cain and bring him home. It wasn't for the lack of trying however. Kim would have wanted Cain to be here, he had never asked but he suspected she had forgiven him as best she could long ago. Still all the wonderful children, which he recalled should have been at least thirty, excluding one had managed to come visit their mother's grave. Ron sat at the foot of this very grave now and recalled the last moments between he and Kim.

"_You probably do not want to hear that I want to go too," he told Kim as he held her elderly figure in his arms. _

"_We're all going to go Ron. Some of us go before others. Do not be sad."_

"_I am not sad I think it is perfectly in your character to forge on ahead."_

"_I suppose this is fate after all, I did eat us out of house and home."_

_Ron groaned. "I think we can confirm the apples do not improve a person's humor."_

_Kim used the last of her strength to tighten the embrace she had upon him. "Ronald, I greed you," she chuckled as she laid a kiss upon his lips. _

Ron lifted himself off the ground. As he walked away from the grave Seth approached and offered aid to his elderly father.

"How are you father?"

"I am as fine as I can be at the moment" Ron replied. "Death, pain, it comes with the territory. Considering the happiness I had with Kim, I don't regret anything."

Seth appeared surprised. "Are you saying you've never regretted having left the Garden?"

Eden it had been so long, he couldn't even bring up a proper image. Ron turned to his son after a brief pause.

"Wherever she was, there was Eden."

* * *

A/N You could say I wrote eight chapters of this story just as a set up for that last line. I hope the setup was worth it. XD. So ok the story is done YAY. The muse has freed me from the chains of this story at last. Add this to list of the very few multi chappie stories I've finished. And I may actually be proud of this story ....*sniff*

Read and review, tell me what you think about the story as a whole. I may have dipped into the cheese a bit there but its a satisfactory look at the first love. so I'm on to finish Scrooged and then A.L.L


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